Southern California -- this just in

Is the 101 the nation's worst freeway? Let the debate begin

The notorious Hollywood Freeway is so congested that the Daily Beast recently ranked the 101, during rush hour, as the worst metropolitan-area freeway in the nation.

There are several Southern California freeways that commuters claim are the most congested – and experts say determining which is the worst depends a lot on how one asks the question.

The 405 through the Westside is a perennial champion, as is a section of 91 Freeway between Riverside and Orange counties.

Then there is the dreaded 10 each morning into the Westside.
Transportation officials have discussed making major improvements to some of the Hollywood Freeway’s interchanges and bottlenecks – particularly around downtown L.A. at the 101-110 interchange – but those are years away.

Even the mayor’s deputy of transportation, Jaime de la Vega, talked about the ills of the 101 during a casual conversation last week – Vega said he carpooled with his wife to work on that freeway each day, but his commute was hampered because there were no carpool lanes.

Is the 101 really the worst? Or do you have a different candidate? Tell us what you think in the comments below.